FIFA World Cup: Panama look to put on a dignified performance

Unlike in most Latin American countries, football does not have a strong tradition in Panama and it lagged behind boxing, baseball and basketball in popularity until a few years ago. Panama did not even enter the World Cup until the qualifiers for the 1978 tournament but that has changed and in the last decade it has become a force in the CONCACAF region.

Since 2005, it has twice reached the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the semi-finals on another two occasions, including a stormy defeat to Mexico in 2015. Even so, Gomez said recently that he had not expected his team to qualify for a World Cup so early and admitted that Panama was the team that “the other 31 countries wanted to get in the draw”.

“It’s a young football country and we qualified before our time,” he said. “Panama doesn’t have a (Lionel) Messi, we don’t have a Neymar, we don’t have a Cristiano Ronaldo.” But, with the United States in disarray and a favourable combination of results elsewhere, Panama finished third in the final stage of the CONCACAF qualifiers, despite winning only three out of 10 games and scoring a modest nine goals.

A 2-1 win over Costa Rica in its final game — helped by an equaliser where the ball clearly did not cross the line — meant it finished above Honduras on goal difference and one point ahead of the U.S. who lost 2-1 to Trinidad & Tobago. Suddenly, it was at the World Cup but is now wondering whether it has bitten off more than it can chew.

Panama, which will face Belgium, England and Tunisia in Group G, is certainly not short on experience and six members of the squad which took part in the March tour to Europe have more than 100 caps. If anything, they are somewhat long in the tooth with a surprising number of key players, such as goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, defenders Felipe Baloy and Roman Torres, midfielders Gabriel Gomez and Alberto Quintero and forwards Blas Perez and Luis Tejada all into their 30s.

Lack of practice against teams from outside the CONCACAF region is another concern and a 6-0 friendly thumping in Switzerland. “We have made a dream come true by reaching the World Cup but we still have to do well when we get there,” he said. “It’s a big task and we have to work out to put on a dignified display which the Panamanians can enjoy.”

Previous tournaments: Panama will be making its debut at the World Cup finals. It first entered the World Cup qualifiers for the 1978 tournament in Argentina.

Form guide: Panama has struggled in friendlies since qualifying for the World Cup, losing to Iran and Denmark by single goals, drawing with Wales and being thumped 6-0 by Switzerland. It did manage wins in low-key friendlies against Grenada and Trinidad. Panama reached the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup last year before losing 1-0 to Costa Rica. Its last 10 competitive internationals have produced four wins, three draws and three defeats.

Prospects: Drawn in Group G, Panama will be thrown in at the deep end by facing Belgium in its opening game. It then faces England and finally Tunisia. Coach Hernan Dario Gomez admits that his team is rank outsider and that he would be happy with a single victory. 

There was a sense of poetic justice about Roman Torres’s goal that sent Panama to its first World Cup finals and at the same time eliminated the United States.

The 32-year-old centre-half has been at the heart of the Central American country’s rise from minnows of the CONCACAF region and featured in the side that came agonisingly close to qualification four years previously. With the score tied at 1-1 in its final 2018 qualifier against Costa Rica, Torres left his defensive position and pushed himself up front without instruction from the bench.

There were just three minutes remaining when he charged on to a flicked-on header and blasted the ball past Costa Rica goalkeeper Patrick Pemberton, a moment the country’s La Prensa newspaper dubbed: ‘The Miracle of Roman’. It was quick to draw comparisons with the misery of four years earlier, when Panama lost 3-2 to the United States on the final day of qualifying and handed Mexico a barely deserved playoff place.

“Four years ago they were tears of pain. Now they are tears of happiness. Panama is going to Russia 2018 and the hero is called Roman Torres,” declared the paper. Torres, who has made 108 appearances for his country and plays in Major League Soccer with Seattle Sounders, was quick to note the achievement had been based on years of work.

“It’s something we’ve been working towards for a very long time. I can’t say it enough, the stadium was just pure happiness and euphoria over what happened. It was a historic moment for our country and for our national team,” he said. In an era of heavy transfer traffic from the Americas to Europe, it is a little surprising that Torres has spent most of his career in Colombia and the United States.

He was linked with moves to England on several occasions but reported interest from Swansea City and Nottingham Forest, including a trial at the latter, failed to turn into a switch to the English game. He has, however, enjoyed late career success in MLS and his popularity in Seattle was further enhanced in 2016 when he scored the title-winning penalty in a shoot-out against Toronto FC to win the MLS Cup, the first in Sounders history.

His debut in the World Cup finals, against Belgium on June 18 in Sochi, sets up an individual duel with Romelu Lukaku where Torres will have the chance to show the world the value of his strength and defensive nous.